Who and what influences us?

Lets have a look at who and what may have impact AND influence over us on a day to day basis. WHY? hopefully the answer to that question will become more apparent.

Area’s of influence, to make it easy lets break it down into two areas:

1. Your peeps, the people you spend your time with.
2. Your tools, the ‘things’ you utalise in your toolbox.

I have always loved this quote from Abraham Lincoln:

“Give me six hours to chop down a tree and I will spend the first four sharpening the ax.”Whenever you set out to achieve something, it might come in handy to invest a lot in the tools that you’re going to be using. When one has a goal, one should devote resources to the means one uses for achieving this goal.

The people you spend your time have a significant impact:

“According to research by social psychologist Dr. David McClelland of Harvard, [the people you habitually associate with] determine as much as 95 percent of your success or failure in life.”

𝗧𝗔𝗞𝗘 𝗖𝗢𝗡𝗧𝗥𝗢𝗟 & 𝗙𝗢𝗥𝗚𝗘 𝗬𝗢𝗨𝗥 𝗢𝗪𝗡 𝗕𝗨𝗕𝗕𝗟𝗘

It’s a fact of life that some people hold us back & other propel us forward. That’s just the way it is, I learnt early on due living in a Domestic Violence home to accept it and learn how to deal with it instead of wishing that reality was different.

Acceptance can be difficult especially when the people who are holding you back may be key figures in your world, you can talk to them and explain your goals and your plans. This is where you could indicate anything that you feeling may hold you back. Whilst the conversation may seem and feel difficult – you actually never know you could have found yourself a like minded person just WAITING for a reason to shift their mindset.
Then BOOM you have a Journey buddy AND you have actually influenced them to follow their goals and dreams. Funnily enough it doesn’t even NEED to be the same set of goals, it can be something completely different, both moving forward positively encouraging one another to reach for your goals.

But what if nothing changes in that relationship? This is where it becomes a little harder and in reality. It may make no difference to your journey OR it may slow you down OR it could be a little impossible for you to stay focused and positive.

You can’t really expect to hang out with negative people and have a positive life OR at least for it not to bring you down.

What else can shape and influence our thinking & can these be used as part of our Toolbox?

TV can shape your thinking, social science research shows that it can shape out thinking, political preferences and even our cognitive ability.
Reading a book is a stress-reducing activity that can lower your heart rate & blood pressure. It has also been proven to improve your memory and increase your brain power.
Podcasts & Audiobooks are a great way to listen to your favourite author or influencer. The choices our there now are amazing.
Music has the ability to make us dance , smile and remember the happiest or even saddest of memories.
Family, Society & your Culture also have the ability to have last influences on you.

So can any of these be used to form part of our Toolbox – of course they can. TV, Documentaries, Reading, Podcast’s and Audiobooks are amazing tools to have and utalise on a daily basis.

As can people, do you have a Coach? Coach’s can come in many shapes and forms, their job is to listen to your objectives, clarify, create workable pathways AND check in on a regular basis.

𝗕𝗨𝗜𝗟𝗗 𝗬𝗢𝗨𝗥 𝗦𝗤𝗨𝗔𝗗
My Squad is actually multi levels, they consist of:

1. My Personal Support System, which are a very small group of people that I trust and bounce things off.
2. My Coach’s, I have a few actually. 1 I interact with almost daily for my own set of personal goals. 2 is a Coach I work with from time to time when I need to check on on my Business side of things. 3 are a group of peers in all of my professions. YES I have a set of peers for CrossFit Coaching, Weightlifting, Box Owner & Nutrition/Naturipathy & Integrative Medicine.
3. My Community of people that I see most days, highly important (even for an introvert like myself).
4. The Leaders I follow, listen too, read and inevitably watch. SOme I know personally, most I have reached out too in one way or another. Even if to just say thankyou your book was amazing.

The most important tool at our disposal for living a better life is other people.

𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘱𝘦𝘰𝘱𝘭𝘦 𝘸𝘦 𝘴𝘶𝘳𝘳𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘥 𝘰𝘶𝘳𝘴𝘦𝘭𝘷𝘦𝘴 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩,
𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘱𝘦𝘰𝘱𝘭𝘦 𝘸𝘦 𝘭𝘪𝘴𝘵𝘦𝘯 𝘵𝘰𝘰 & 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘥 𝘪𝘯 𝘗𝘰𝘥𝘤𝘢𝘴𝘵𝘴/𝘈𝘶𝘥𝘪𝘰𝘣𝘰𝘰𝘬𝘴 & 𝘈𝘶𝘵𝘩𝘰𝘳𝘴,
𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘱𝘦𝘰𝘱𝘭𝘦 𝘸𝘦 𝘭𝘰𝘰𝘬 𝘶𝘱 𝘵𝘰 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘓𝘦𝘢𝘥𝘦𝘳𝘴𝘩𝘪𝘱/𝘊𝘰𝘢𝘤𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨,

These are the biggest influence on our behavior, attitudes and results. Who you are around, what they’ve got you thinking, saying, doing and becoming WILL set a course. In some groups even more than the books you read, the shows you watch, the podcasts you listen too or the goals that you have.

𝘐𝘴 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘚𝘲𝘶𝘢𝘥 𝘣𝘢𝘭𝘢𝘯𝘤𝘦𝘥?

The dream in your heart may be bigger or different than the environment in which you find yourself.

It’s a fact of life that some people hold us back, while other propel us forward. That’s just the way it is, you have to choice to accept it or change it. Either way it is a more positive situation for yourself that simply wishing that reality was different.

Surround yourself with people you admire.

We become like the people that we (choose to) expose ourselves to. It follows that you can accelerate your personal growth in whatever direction you desire by spending time with people who already are who you want to become.
That will infect you with the behaviors and attitudes that helped them achieve their success, making it more likely that you will realize similar results in your life.

So, ask yourself: Who do you spend the most time with? Who are the people you most admire? Are those two groups of people the same?
Why not?

𝙒𝙝𝙤 𝙞𝙣𝙛𝙡𝙪𝙚𝙣𝙘𝙚𝙨 𝙮𝙤𝙪? The question is an easy one, the answer more complex however at the end of the day it can have a profound effect on your goals, your results which = your life and its journey.